May 30, 2017
This week we look at the spectral classification work of Antonia Maury and Annie Jump Cannon at the Harvard College Observatory.
May 21, 2017
In this week's episode we look at the early work of the Harvard College Observatory under the direction of Edward Charles Pickering. We discuss his three big research initiatives: the visual photometric survey of stars, the All-Sky Survey and Catalogue and the Draper Memorial Catalogue that catalogued and classified...
May 14, 2017
When Kirchhoff and Bunsen unlocked elemental spectra, they opened a new avenue of astrophysical investigation. This work work was originally done by the quartet of Lewis Rutherfurd, Astronomer Royal George Airy, Father Angelo Secchi and William Huggins. This work would lead to advances by Hermann Carl Vogel and Norman...
May 7, 2017
In 1861, Gustav Kirchhoff published the astonishing results that he could, merely by examining the light received from the Sun, determine what elements it was made from. One this episode, we'll trace the scientific investigation of the nature of light from Isaac Newton through Joseph Fraunhofer to the work of Kirchhoff...